Automatic controlling attachment for looms



I, ROTHFUCHS. AUTOMATIC CONTROLLING ATTACHMENT FOR Looms.

APPLICATION FVILED OCT. 12. 1916. "1,336,089. Patented Apr. 1920 2SHEETS.SHEET 1- L. ROTHFUCHS. AU-TQMATI'C CONTROLLING ATTACHMENT FORLOOMS.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. I2, I9I6- I UNIE %TATE% T OFFICE.

LOUIS ROTI-IFUGHS, OF THREE OAKS, MICHIGAN, ESIGNOR TS THE VJARRENFEATHER- BONE COMPANY, OF THREE OAKS, MICHIGAN, A CORPORATION OFMICHIGAN.

AUTOMATIC CONTROLLING ATTACHMENT FOR LOOMS.

Application filed Gctober 12, 1816.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LOUIS Ro'rHrUoHs, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Three Oaks, in the county of Berrien and State ofMichigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in AutomaticUontrolling Attachments for Looms, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention relates to an automatic controlling attachment for looms,and is of particular utility in connection with looms in which ribbonsor cords are woven in a long row of weaving fields. In such looms alathe member extending full length of the loom is moved forwardly andrearwardly and carries reeds for compacting the woof threads between thewarp threads) which travel transversely through the loom, the lathe alsocarrying a continuous rack which is rapidly longitudinally reciprocatedthereon and with which small pinions mesh which also mesh with racks onthe shuttles which reciprocate in guide-ways mounted on the lathe, theseshuttles carrying the woof threads back and forth through the warpstrands during operation of the loom. The continuous rack which drivesall the shuttles is usually made of light material, usually wood, andits teeth sometimes break, in which event the rack would be preventedfrom reciprocating its full distances so that the shuttles would nottravel entirely through the warp threads and such threads would be torn,and considerable time would be lost in tediously rethreading the loom.Or, the teeth of the pinions. or of the shuttle racks, which are alsousually of wood, may break to prevent full stroke of the rack bar. Or,the belts which are sometimes used for reciprocating the rack bar, maystretch and fail to give the rack bar the required distance ofreciprocation. Other conditions may also arise which would result inimproper movement of the rack bar, all of which would result in tearingof the threads and considerable loss of time.

The object of my invention is therefore to provide an attachment forlooms of this class, which will operate to immediately stop the loom theinstant that the rack bar fails to move its required distance in eitherdirection, such immediate stopping preventing tearing of the threads andcalling the operators attention to the defective operation of the loom.More in detail, the invention in- Specifieation of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 6, 1920.

Serial No. 125,133.

volves a plate secured to the rack bar to partake of the same movementas the shuttles. The shuttles have a combined transverse and lateralmovement, each shuttle describing a U-shaped path du ng opera tion ofthe loom, and the plate secured to the rack to reciprocate therewith andto travel forwardly and rearwardly with the lathe will describe the sameU-shaped path that the shuttles do. On the loom supporting structure anactuating bar is mounted which is adapted at one end to cooperate withthe clutch mechanism controlling the connection of the loom with adriving source, and the other end of the bar extends into the U-shapedpath of the plate in such manner that when the loom is operatingproperlythe. plate will travel alongside of the bar and just clear the bar, butshould the rack bar for any reason fail to be shifted the properdistance in either direction the plate will strike and shift the barwhich will then release the driving clutch mechanism, brake mechanismbeing actuated at the same time to immediately stop the loom afterunelutehing from the driving source.

Onthe accompanying drawings I have shown one form of my improvedcontrolling mechanism applied to a loom of well known construction. Inthese drawings Figure 1 is an end elevational view of a loom to which myimproved attachment is applied,

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the end of the loom, showing just enough of theloom parts to illustrate the operation of my attachment,

Fig. 3 is a sectional view on plane 3-3, Fig.1,

Fig. 4 is an enlarged view from plane 4-4, Fig. 1, showing part of theclutch controlling lever mechanism.

The loom shown comprises a supporting frame-work 10 on which isjournaled the main drive shaft 11 carrying at its end the disk 12 anddriving pulley 13. Running along the front of the frame is the shelf 14for supporting various parts of the loom, as for example the rollers 15over which finished cords or ribbons 16 are guided to receiving spools(not shown). Behind the shelf 14 the lathe beam 17 extendslongitudinally of the machine and is supported on upright rocker arms 18mounted on a shaft 19 extending along the frame-work. Connectof thelathe beam at the rear thereof is a' row of shuttle supporting blocks 22through which shuttles 23 reciprocate parallel with the beam. Each blockhas upper and lower guide pieces 2% ant 25 secured to its front betweenwhich the shuttle reciprocates,-the top block having the groove 26 forreceiving the tongue 27 on the shuttle. Within each block rack pinions'28 are journaled which engage with the rack teeth 29 on the under sideof the shuttles. The lathe beam has a groove 30 in which a rack bar 31is adapted to reciprocate longitudinally on the beam, the teeth 32 ofthe rack bar meshing with the various pinions 28 in the shuttlesupporting structures, the distance of reciprocation of the rack barbeing such as will reciprocate the shuttles back and forth over adistance equal to the distance between the centers of adjacentsupporting blocks 22.

In Fig. 3 means are shown more or less diagrammatically for effectingreciprocation of the rack 31. Within and at the ends of the beam 17pulleys 33 and 34 are journaled around which pass belt sections 35 and36. The upper ends of the belts are secured to the'respective ends ofthe rack and the belts travel over guide pulleys 37 and 38 journaled onthe beam and around guide pulleys 39 and i0 journaled on the frame-work10. The lower ends of the belt sections ter minate in hooks 41 and --l-2respectively which engage a link fitting 43 which is pivoted on the stud4L4, this stud being secured to a crank arm extending from the shaft 26driven by a driving t'ain (not shown) from the main shaft 11. The stud44; is adjustable along the arm by means of a slot l7. 'As the crank arm45 rotates tension will be exerted alternately on the belt sections andthe rack bar will be shifted back and forth in the lathe beam and theshuttles will be correspondingly reciprocated. The mechanism for drivingthe shaft 46 is not shown as it forms no part of the invention and iswell known in loom construction, the shaft being driven intermittent]3in a manner to cause the belt sections to remain a, rest a while whenthe rack bar is at the ends of the lathe beam, and such periods of restoccur while the lathe beam is being shifted forwardly and a distancerearwardly. During the remainder of the rearward movement of the lathebeam the shaft 46 will be rotated to quickly swing the crank arm 45 toshift the rack bar to the other end of its stroke and to correspondinglyreciprocate theshuttles.

The warp threads a9 extend from supply spools (not shown) and are guidedthrough harness frames 50 of the usual construction and fron'i therethrough reed frames 51 inserted between the shuttle supporting blocks22. Each shuttle carries a bobbin 53, the thread on which is carriedback and forth through the warp threads to form the woof threads, thewoof and warp threads being interwoven to form the cord or ribbon 16,all in a maner well understood in the' art. The shuttles are carriedbodily forwardly with the lathe beam and are reciprecated longitudinallythereon. During forward movement of the beam the'shuttles travel alongone side of the warp threads and after the beam has been returned adistance the shuttles are reciprocated through and to the other side ofthe warp threads and are then again carried forwardlywith the bean'i,the shuttles therefore describing U shaped paths. Should the shuttlesfail to reciprocate their full distances on the beam they will atchinthe threads when the beam is shifted forwardly and the threads will betorn and considerable time will be lost in labo iously and tediouslyre-threading and tying broken threads. Means are of course providedwhereby the operator may operate the n1a-' chine driving clutchmechanism from any part of the machine, but the'operatcr cannot alwaysoperate this means rapidly enough to prevent damage to the threads.Sometimes the operator is away from the machine; and. even if he isclose beside the machine, many times it will be impossible for him todiscover defective operation in time to prevent damage, as in some ofthese machines there are a' great number of shuttles and other parts andierations which he must inspect. The object of my invention is thereforeto provide means for automatically stopping the machine as soon as theshuttle operating rack bar fails to travel itsfull distance in eitherdirection. Such automatic controlling mechanismmay be of variousconstructions and applied in various ways. On the drawings I have shownthe controlling mechanism applied to cooperate with the manual clutchcontrolling mechanism to automatically operate this mechanism to stopthe machine. Describing first the clutch controlling mechanism providedon the looms for manual operation. a lever is pivoted in lugs 55-011'bracket extending from the machine frame-work 10. The rear end of thislever forks around a clutch collar 57 and pins 58 in the fork engage inthe groove 59 of the collan-this collar being shown as secured tothe'pulley 1 -3 so that the pulleyniay be shifted along the shaft 11tobe awayfrom the disk 12 orto befin frictional or clutching engagementtherewith. The front end of the lever pivots. to arm 60 extendingfronithe shaft 61 jourlll) naled in the end of the lower arm 62 of theU-shaped supporting bracket 63 mounted on the machine frame-work 10 atthe front thereof. At its outer end the shaft 61 carries the arm 64.-having the slot 65 at its upper end with which engages the pin 66 of thelever 67 which is pivoted at the end of the upper arm 68 of the bracket68. The upper end of the lever 67 pivots to the end of the bar 69 whichextends along the front of the machine to be accessible to the operator.A tension spring 70 connects between the arm 6% and the bracket 63 andtends to swing the arm 6% inwardly and the upper end of lever 67outwardly, the arrangement being such that when the bar 69 has beenshifted a short distance outwardly the spring will have suflicientstrength to effect complete outward shift of the bar. In the positionsshown the bar is in, the front end of lever 54 is out and its rear endis in, and the pulley 13 is in driving connection with the disk 12 onthe main shaft 11 and the machine is operated. WVhen it is desired tostop the machine the bar 69 is shifted outwardly to effect unclutchingof the pulley 13 from the disk. A stop arm 71 is provided on the bracket63 for the arm 6% when the bar 69 is shifted out. In order to stop themachine immediately after unclutching, a brake lever 72 is providedwhich is pivoted at 73 to the bracket 56 and carries a brakeshoe 7 4: atits rear end, the front end of the lever forking around the lever 54.When the clutch is actuated to start the machine the brake lever will berotated to release the brake lever from the shoe but when the clutchmechanism is shifted to release the pulley 13 the brake-shoe isimmediately pressed against the disk 12 and the machine is stopped.

Describing now my attachment for automatically actuating the clutchcontrolling mechanism, a bracket 75 secured to the end of the shelf 14forms a guide for the forward and rearward reciprocation of a cam bar 76which has the upturned rear end 77. At its front end the bar is turnedover and shaped to form a cam head 78 for engaging with the lever 67when the bar is shifted forwardly, a spring 79 between the bar andbracket tending to hold the bar in its rear position with the cam headaway from the lever 67. Secured to the rack bar 31 and extendingforwardly therefrom is a plate 80 which during operation of the machinepartakes of the same movements as the rack bar, that is, the platetravels bodily forwardly and rearwardly with the lathe beam andreciprocates thereon with the rack bar and therefore describes the samepath as the shuttles when the machine is operating properly. Thelocation of the up-turned end 77 of the cam bar 76 is such that when therack bar is at one end of its stroke and the lathe beam is carriedforwardly the plate 80 will pass the end 77 at one side thereof and willjust clear it, and when the rack bar is at the other end of its strokeand the lathe beam is shifted forwardly the plate will pass the end 77at the other side thereof and will just clear it. Then, if for anyreason the rack bar was not shifted the full distance in eitherdirection the plate 80 will not clear the cam bar but will strike it andthe cam head 78 will engage with the lever 67 and will swing itsufficiently to allow the spring 70 to complete the operation to effectunclutching of the pulley 13 and application of the brake-shoe to thedisk to immediately stop the machine, and to prevent tearing of thethreads. Owing to the construction of looms of the class referred to,conditions may readily arise which will prevent full stroke of the rackbar. The long rack bar must be made very light in order that it may berapidly shifted along the lathe without requiring excessive power orheavy driving parts, and such rack bars are sometimes made of wood andsometimes of material which has no greater strength than wood. Theshuttles are also usually of wood and the pinions are of wood, fiber, orsimilar material. Owing to the sudden throwing back and forth of therack bar and the correspondingly sudden reciprocations and shiftings ofthe shuttles, teeth or pieces may break from the racks or pinions andfull movement of the parts would be prevented. Sometimes also the beltsections which control the reciprocation of the rack bar will stretchand will not effect full stroke of the rack bar. Then, if the machine isnot immediately stopped the shuttles will not clear the warp threads andthe threads will tear or tangle, this causing considerable loss in theoperation of the machine. However, with my attachment for automaticallystopping the machine, the lathe beam can move forwardly just once beforethe machine is stopped after failure of the rack bar to move fulldistance in either direction. As soon as repairs have been made afterautomatic stopping of the machine the hand bar is shifted inwardly andthe machine is ready for further automatic control.

The attachment of my invention comprises few parts and is very simple,and can be readily attached to the well known types of lathes without inany wise altering the construction or arrangement thereof. Changes andmodifications may also be made which would still come within the scopeof the invention, and I do not therefore desire to be limited to what Ihave shown and described.

I claim as follows:

In a loom, the combination of a shuttle rack, driving mechanism andclutch mechanism, clutch operating members comprising a manuallyoperable ba1',,a clutch'lever, levers pivotally connected with eachother and having operative connection with said bar and clutch leverrespectively, said levers being flexed in the movement of said clutchlever into clutch releasing position, a tension spring connected withsaid levers and acting to aid in movement of said levers into clutchreleasing position, and means for automatically operating said clutchmechanism comprising a cam bar positioned to be engaged by said shuttlerack in the undesired movement thereof, and adapted to act on saidlevers to move the same toward clutch releasing position, and a brakemember operably connected to and operative simultaneously With saidclutch lever, and acting to effect the stopping of said drivingmechanism.

In Witness whereof I hereunto subscribe my name this (3th day ofOctober, A. D. 1916.

LOUIS ROTHFUCHS.

